(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of electricity in the form of electronic communications, and more particularly to arrangements for the broadcast or distribution of information in an electronic medium, and most particularly to systems that substitute or switch distributed information in real-time at the time of the broadcast, or distribution, of the content or information.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The technical problem of substituting broadcast content on detecting a change in the nature or origin of the content is inherent in the technical field of electronic broadcast communications.
In the United States, for instance, television broadcasting has largely embraced a business model in which events or programs being broadcast are routinely interrupted to insert paid for, interstitial advertising. When such advertising is inappropriate for the venue in which the broadcast is being viewed or shown, it is desirable to have a system that automatically detects a content break indicative of change in the broadcast from the event content to interstitial advertising, and to then automatically provide a substitute stream of content for the duration of the interstitial advertising. That substitute content may, for instance, be more appropriate advertising, or some alternate content that may be prerecorded and may, for instance, provide further information related to the event of program that is being interrupted.
The relevant prior art includes:
US Patent Application no. 20020194593 published by Ted Tsuchida et al. on Dec. 19, 2002 entitled “Method of substituting content during program breaks” that describes a method of substituting content during a program break, and includes: detecting a break in a broadcast program, and in response to the break, showing substitute content. A method of substituting broadcast content displayed on a screen, includes: determining an occurrence of a break in a broadcast content; and in response to the occurrence of the break, displaying substitute content on the screen. The method may further include: displaying the broadcast content when the break terminates.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,249,497 issued to Ingrassia et al. on Aug. 21, 2012 entitled “Seamless switching between radio and local media” that describes systems and methods for seamlessly switching media playback between a media broadcast, such as a radio broadcast, and media from a local media library. When an electronic device determines that an upcoming media item in a media broadcast is not of interest to a user, the electronic device can switch playback from the media stream to a media item from the electronic device local library. The selected local media item can be related to a previously broadcast media item to ensure continuity in the user's listening or viewing experience. The electronic device can switch away from the local media item and return to the media stream when the media stream again broadcasts media items or segments of interest to the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,531 issued to Johnson on Apr. 17, 1990 entitled “Commercial message timer” that describes a commercial message timer, that when enabled by a user, stores data indicative of a first tuned station and begins timing a predetermined time period. Upon expiration of the time period, the first tuned station is automatically reselected if it had been deselected after the timer was enabled. In this way a user can avoid a commercial message on a first channel by setting the timer and scanning through other channels, and yet have the receiver return automatically to the first channel at the end of a time period substantially equal to that of a typical commercial message. In another embodiment employing PIX-IN-PIX circuitry, the subject apparatus is responsive to the sequence of (1) enabling the timer and (2) changing channels for automatically moving the desired channel to the insert position. In response to the expiration of the timer period, the program displayed in the insert position is automatically returned to the main display position.
US Patent Application no. 20150067722 published by David M. Bjordammen et al. on Mar. 5, 2015 entitled “Averting Ad Skipping in Adaptive Bit Rate” that describes an adaptive bit rate system that uses adaptive streaming to deliver content to client devices capable of adaptive bit rate streaming. Techniques for averting or inhibiting ad skipping by an adaptive bit rate client device that receives media chunks from the adaptive bit rate system may include techniques for both live content and on demand content. Techniques include modifying a buffer size for access to trick plays and/or constructing a manifest file with limited content based on ad breaks.
Various implementations are known in the art, but fail to address all of the problems solved by the invention described herein. Various embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be described in more detail herein below.